Barefoot And Fancy Bree
OLTL’s Bree Williamson (Jessica) recently made her New York theater debut as Corie in Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park. Soap Opera Digest caught up with the busy actress to hear all about her new endeavor.
“It’s been a very positive experience,” shares Williamson. “I am very busy, but it’s good. Everything’s great.” Williamson admits that she’d never read or acted in a Neil Simon play, so she wasn’t familiar with the material, but when she read Barefoot, her mind was immediately made up.
“The casting director, Steve DeAngelis, called me and said, ‘Hey, I have this play, I have this play, I have this play,’ and I was extremely busy at the time with other stuff, but then I was finally like, ‘Okay, let me read it.’ So I took it on a trip to England — actually, Jessica and Bree went to England at the same time — I read it, I thought it was perfect and the rest is history.”
Williamson says that she had considered doing theater before, but between front-burner storylines on OLTL, fan events and her personal life, her schedule didn’t really allow for it. “I wasn’t actively pursuing it by any means, but I thought it would be a fun thing to do while I’m in New York because life changes really quickly and you never know what’s going to happen. I’m really really happy that I got to do it,” she enthuses.
So far, the only challenges the actress has faced are the long commute (about an hour from Manhattan) four times a week and the anxiety of opening night. “It was really stressful. I was scared! My mother and my dad and a friend came in, and they all watched it and after the show — the curtain call is my least-favorite part — I was afraid to come upstairs and face my parents even though they’re just the nicest people on Earth. I was so embarrassed! I don’t know why, I just get weirded out,” she explains. “Those kind of moments are hard. But I’m having fun.”
Williamson says she received rave reviews from her family and friends, including OLTL co-star BethAnn Bonner (Talia), who attended an opening weekend performance. “She said that I was good and her viewpoint means a lot because she was a theater major,” explains Williamson, who didn’t study acting in college but had a double major in psychology and women’s studies. “I could hear BethAnn laugh from the stage, and every time she laughed, I had to, like, press my lips together really hard to keep from cracking up because I could hear her perfectly! So that was tough,” she laughs.
Aside from Williamson’s theater foray, which she is likely to repeat, the actress is just soaking up life in New York City. “I’m walking my dog down the street with a Creamsicle in my hand, so life is good,” she tells Digest. “Tonight, I’m going to a fashion party, yay!
Barefoot in the Park is running through September 23 at the John W. Engeman Theater in Northport, NY. Performances are Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $45 and can be ordered by calling (866) 811-4111. Directed by Patricia Zaback, the play also stars Todd Lawson, Susan Bigelow, Robert Lydiard and Frank Stellato. Casting by Stephen DeAngelis. For more info, go to www.theatermania.com
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